Four days, three nights in Komodo

There is no open trip for four days. The open trip runs for two days or three, every Monday & Friday, and if you want four you charter Princess Lala, which means the boat, the crew and both tables are yours. Every chair at the long table and at the stern is taken by someone you brought. Three generations of a family fit that shape well, and so do two couples who have been friends for twenty years.

A chef sails with the boat and cooks for your group alone. Our photographs show grilled whole fish, prawns and calamari with corn, sambal and fried banana with cheese, and what reaches your table is the chef's choice on the day; we do not print a fixed list.

You are collected from the airport or your hotel at the hour we agree with you. No other guests are on board, so nobody else sets the hour. A soft bag goes through a cabin door more easily than a hard suitcase, and every cabin is a double bed with a single beside it, so a third guest takes the single (in Cabin 6 the single berth is added on a charter). Eighteen guests fill her, and four have the run of her. The fares are at the end of this page.

Day one begins with lunch at the long table after the safety briefing. Then Kelor, about an hour from the harbour, with its short, steep climb to a viewpoint over the bay and a swim off the beach. Manjarite comes next, where you snorkel off the jetty with the mask and snorkel from the boat and your own fins if you swim with them. Kalong closes the day: the bats stream out of the mangroves at sunset, you watch from the deck, and dinner is at the long table.

Strawberry Rock is not on the four-day route. What the route has instead is time, and you will notice it on day two.

Day two opens with the ridge walk on Padar, a torch in your hand and shoes that grip, and breakfast on board when you come down. Then the dragon walk on Komodo with a park ranger, in closed shoes with your park ticket. The dragons are wild. After lunch the boat settles at Pink Beach for a long, unhurried afternoon: a swim, a snorkel along the reef close to shore, sand that turns pink in the right light, and no reason to look at a watch.

Dinner at the long table ends the day, and the night is on board. Where she lies is the weather's and the captain's decision.

The third morning belongs to Gili Lawa, a hill walk before breakfast, in shoes with grip and with water in your hand. This is a stop of its own on the four-day route and not a stand-in for Padar, which you have already walked.

After breakfast comes Manta Point, a drift snorkel along the reef with the current, and Taka Makassar, a sandbar and shallow reef. Both follow the tide, so the captain can swap them. Mantas are wild and common but never guaranteed, and the current at Manta Point can be strong, so a life jacket, which is on board, is sensible if you are unsure in the water.

Lunch is on board when you come up out of the water. Then the boat sails on to Siaba for the afternoon snorkel, 60 to 90 minutes from the stop before.

Dinner at the long table closes the day. If your group has children, the run to Siaba is the long leg of the day, and the bow sundeck, the bean bags and the shaded side deck are there for the hour in between.

The charter also runs as a five-day, four-night route. It has no page of its own, but its fares are published and you can plan around them.

Day four calls at Senator, Kanawa and Sabolon, and day five at Rangko Cave and Seture. We send the full day-by-day on request.

The five-day fare for the whole boat is IDR 49,000,000 (≈ USD 3,006) for up to four guests, IDR 55,500,000 (≈ USD 3,405) for five to eight and IDR 61,000,000 (≈ USD 3,742) for nine to twelve, and each guest beyond twelve, up to eighteen, adds IDR 3,750,000 (≈ USD 230). With four on board that is IDR 12,250,000 (≈ USD 752) each.

So when does a fifth day make sense? When nobody in your group has a flight to catch and the whole point is slow days: a late breakfast, a long swim, the same bean bag on the sundeck three afternoons running. It matters less when the plan is to see as many stops as possible, since the four-day route already carries the main ones.